RAF Halton

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) Army,  (b) Royal Navy and  (c) RAF personnel have received training at RAF Halton in each year since 1998.

Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
	 Substantive answer from Bob Ainsworth to Mr. Lidington:
	I undertook to write to you in answer to your Parliamentary Question on 15 July 2008, (Official Report, column 314W) about training at RAF Halton.
	This information relating to the number of Service Personnel who received any training at RAF Halton in each year since 2000 is set out below.
	Information prior to Financial Year 2000-01 is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Royal Navy  Army  RAF  Tri-service 
			 2000-01 139 847 10,918 — 
			 2001-02 100 657 10,818 — 
			 2002-03 94 744 10,848 — 
			 2003-04 101 749 10,893 — 
			 2004-05 292 1,437 10,970 — 
			 2005-06 232 1,173 7,990 — 
			 2006-07 184 813 5,934 1,994 
			 2007-08 151 863 6,813 2,604 
			  Notes: The downturn in RAF numbers receiving training from 2004-05 onwards was due to drawdown measures taken by the RAF to reach its reduced target strength of 41,000 and was part of the Government's spending review. For some training courses it has not been possible to differentiate between the actual numbers attending for each service; in this case the total number appears as tri-service. 
		
	
	In addition to the data supplied above, Defence Dental Services (DDS) training at RAF Halton is shown separately in the table below. Data for DDS prior to 2003 is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Royal Navy  Army  RAF 
			 2003-04 21 11 21 
			 2004-05 32 98 65 
			 2005-06 24 79 28 
			 2006-07 32 76 27 
			 2007-08 30 95 28 
		
	
	I am placing a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.